Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Henry licked his paw slowly, he had time – in fact he had
nothing BUT time.

He flicked a glance at the hole, having seen movement at the
edge his vision; the retraction of a whisker. It had seen him, he knew it, but
it didn’t matter, he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, well only to check out
his food bowl, although if his human spotted him they might be helpful and
leave it close by, within chase range.

Henry paused, tongue out, his tail the only thing moving as
it snaked its way up and down. This little mouse wasn’t going to get the better
of him – oh no.

Monday, 28 October 2013

This was my first Mid-Week Blues-Buster in several weeks, and the second I heard the song the story appeared. I love it when that happens. And it clearly works too as it earned me a winner! I haven't been ranked in the Top 3 for a couple of months now, so I am stoked about that! Have a read.

The prompt song this week was:

Howlin’ For You, by The Black Keys

The white line in the middle of the road kept him on track.
His brain couldn’t compute much else in the darkness; it was mush after seeing
her.

With each white streak thoughts came to him, images of how
he would get her, how he would have her; he knew he could do it. A smile crept
across his face. His incisors touched his bottom lip for the first time in
months, and he looked up, seeing the road for the first time, tires screeching
as he did a U-turn.

He hoped she would still be walking. She always did when
spending the night at Duke’s shed. She couldn’t stand to get in a car when she
was drunk, made her queasy she said.

He passed the bar, the external lights not quite reaching
the road, and slowed down, seeing figures walking on either side of the street.
Then he spotted her, striding ahead of the rest.

He reduced to a crawl and ran along the curb, rolling down his
window. She flicked a glance his way.

“What do you want Dean?”

He bit his tongue over the obvious single word answer, and
grinned at her.

“Come get in the car, Darleen.”

She laughed at the sky as she walked, her hair flying back.
He wanted to wrap his hands in it and draw her into him.

“You know that ain’t gonna happen, Dean.”

He glanced in the rear view mirror. He couldn’t see anyone
close by, so he mounted the sidewalk in front of her, leaning over to open the
passenger door; letting it swung out in front of her.

She stopped raising her hands as though touching it would
get her all dirty. He would love to get her dirty.

“You know you want to Darleen.”

That laugh again - he wanted her.

She stepped off to the side, planning to walk round. He
growled under his breath and leapt out of the car. This time there was a look
of fear and he felt a surge run through him like someone had plugged him in. He
liked it, but he stayed by the door not wanting her to run; that wasn’t how he
wanted this to go.

“Arh, come on Darleen. You know me, I ain’t gonna do anything
spooky. I just thought it’d be cool to take a ride. Go look at the moon over
the ridge. Maybe have a smoke.”

This last brought a raised eyebrow. He knew she liked having
a smoke; they’d been stoned a few times - but always in a group. He could see her
wavering. He turned, putting a foot back inside.

“Come on, Darleen. Please?”

She shrugged. “Oh what the hell. It’d better be good shit.”

“Don’t worry, it is.”

Once she was settled in he pulled out, doing another U-turn
back the way he came. He could smell her musky sweet scent and he shifted in
his seat, itching to reach over and touch her.

They chit chatted over the night in the bar, then silence
fell as they came up the rise of the road and the moon came into view. It was
fat tonight and he felt his ears twitch. Behind glass he was safe.

He pulled off onto the rocky track, driving to the look out.
She sighed as it came into view.

He pulled up, the moonlight streaming in like a false
daylight. He had no trouble skinning up without the lights on and they smoked
in silence.

She opened her door first, arching her back as she got out.
He imagined running his fingers down her spine. As his feet touched the ground
he could feel the ripple. He arched as he stood too.

When he turned and looked at her across the roof of the car
he smiled. His incisors enlarged, and he knew that he displayed the same yellow
eyes that reflected back at him. Her laugh was raspy.

“I knew it! Get over here now!”

Her demand caused him to howl and she joined him as he
scampered round to her.

Onlookers would think they were seeing two wolves mating that
night, but they knew the truth.

I had planned for this to be the final episode of my serialisation - not because the story is complete, it isn't - in fact there is a whole lot more - but because I didn't want to continue. I wanted readers to enjoy my Daily Picspiration pieces without feeling they had to go back and read all the other entries first.

It was extremely hard to bring this photo in, but neither of the photos for this one helped me with what I planned to write - and that there was another reason for ending the story, I wanted to write what the picture inspired me to write, not try and fit it into another story.

So enjoy the final episode of this mini serial. You can read 'Outcome' here.

Friday, 11 October 2013

In the summer I submitted a 100 word piece of flash for this anthology run by Forgotten Tombs Press. I didn't receive any kind of confirmation initially so didn't expect to hear anything further, but a few weeks after the deadline I received an email to tell me my piece had been accepted. I was overjoyed!

And it turns out that two other of my writing friends also had their submission accepted - Susi Holliday and J. Whitworth Hazzard, which is brilliant too! Couldn't be happier to be published alongside them.

It is available in print and in ebook and you can buy it any of these places.